View from the Eagle's Nest
by Jubalii
Summary: On a rainy day, Seras gets permission to take one book out of Sir Integra's personal, "restricted" library. Knowing that she'll be severely reprimanded if Alucard knows she has the book, she begins to read in secret before bed- an act that comes with strange and amazing consequences.
1. Consequences of a Rainy Day

**Author's Note**: I know, I know. You're all saying it.

**"Juju, why are you churning out new stories when old ones stay unfinished? I mean, Hetalia oneshots are fine, but full-on **_**stories**_**?"**

(._. ) Trust me, I know.

* * *

Seras sighed, her head in her hands as she gazed out the window at the rain pouring down outside. The grounds were deserted, apart from a soldier or two running to the men's barracks with their arms over their head, as if that would keep them from getting any wetter. The streetlights light the darkness, their luminescence spotlights turning raindrops into sparkling jewels as they bounced like rubber on the pavement. It wasn't normal that rain poured this way in England. Usually, "rain" consisted of a drizzle that would be laughable in other countries.

Seras was lounging in the parlor, her nose stuck to the window as she kneeled on a cushioned divan under the sill. She watched the rainy night outside, a growing sense of unease gnawing at her insides. She knew why she was restless—she could feel the full moon above the clouds and she longed to be bathed in its gentle light. But sadly, she wouldn't be able to venture outside tonight.

Rolling off the divan, she left the drafty parlor and trudged down the hall, dragging her feet. Why bother with hurrying? There was nothing to do. The indoor range was full to the brim of soldiers, there was no reason to go to the mess hall and stare at food she couldn't eat, and the men's barracks were off limits to her, even if she was their captain.

Besides, she didn't have anyone to talk to on this cold, bleary night. Walter and Alucard were busy in the weapon's forge, crafting some new design all their own. She supposed that she could go and watch, but the forge was boring to her and she didn't really share Walter's love for weapon-crafting. The men were busy gambling their paychecks away; the ones in the gun range were already broke, otherwise they'd have been in the barracks as well.

She passed by the large double doors that led to Sir Integra's office. She paused in front of them, shuffling her feet and eyeing the square shapes that were cut into the wooden surface. She finally made a decision and raised a hand to the door. She hesitated a moment longer before rapping three times and waiting.

"Enter," said the heiress, and Seras opened the door and shimmied into the office. She looked around; Walter usually brought her missions in the form of manila envelopes and she turned the post-operation reports in to the front desk, so there was rarely a reason for her to come into Sir Integra's office. She knew her master had a habit of showing up in there, but she wasn't her master and she _really _wasn't close enough with her boss to just show up uninvited.

The office was sparse, with minimal décor and a rather gloomy look. A few bookshelves stood against the far wall, their bodies stuffed with papers and notebooks of past reports. Replicas of famous paintings hung on the walls. The only large piece of furniture was the giant desk. The desk was packed so high with papers that the wooden surface was nowhere to be seen. Integra sat in a tiny cleared off section amidst the mountains of paperwork, scribbling away on memos and smoking her ever-present cigar.

"Are you going to stand there all day, Agent Victoria? Or is there something I can help you with?" Seras opened her mouth, almost smarting off that it wasn't daytime. But she snapped her lips shut just in time, scolding herself for becoming too much like her sarcastic master.

"Well, I was hoping that you had something that _I_ could help _you _with. You seem pretty busy as it is," Seras answered slowly. She still wasn't sure where she stood with the human at the desk. She knew that Sir Integra hadn't trusted her a bit when she first arrived, but she held onto a fragment of hope that the woman would warm up to her once she learned that Seras wasn't going to go crazy and just slaughter her own men or something. _Then again, _Seras thought, _maybe she just acts this way with everyone. _

Integra looked up and narrowed her eyes slightly, looking intently at the girl in front of her. Seras tried not to fidget under her gaze, staring back at her vacantly. "If you don't have… I mean, I can come back later… urm."

"Agent Victoria, I doubt you can help me with this paperwork, unless you're an expert at forging my signature. If you're bored, go read a book." With that she turned back to her work, silently dismissing her.

"I would, if I hadn't already read most of them. All the ones in English, anyway. Even the boring ones." And she had. Because Alucard rarely sought her company and only happened to meet up with her if he saw fit to correct something she'd been doing; she had a lot of spare time on her hands. More often than not, she found herself drawn to the books in the large library. Most of them were in strange languages, but she found and devoured an entire section of books written in English. And she'd learned a lot of interesting things about science and alchemy and even vague topics like demonology.

Integra seemed to hear the truth in her words and sighed, finally putting down her pen. She opened a side drawer and pulled out a tiny key ring. She flipped through the keys before handing one over the desk to Seras.

"On the second floor corridor, there's a locked door. This key opens it; it's the restricted library." Integra eyed her a moment longer before pursing her lips. "On the main table, there are three books in a stack. The topmost one has a symbol not unlike the ones on Alucard's gloves. Bring me the three books; and if you like, pick out a book to read from the shelves. _A _book, Miss Victoria. It's restricted for a reason; those are very important documents in there." Seras nodded dutifully and backed away, her heart jumping. She'd been promoted to "Miss Victoria" now. It'd be no time before they'd all be calling her Seras.

* * *

The key turned slowly in the lock, and Seras made sure that it didn't break off accidently in there before she stepped through and closed the door. Something in the room made her feel like she was a rebel, breaking the rules even though she had permission to be in the library. It was clear to see that these books were not used often.

In a glass case along the far end, parchment scrolls and a tapestry hung. She walked over to look at the tapestry, admiring the gold embossed letters. She couldn't read the words, but she had enough sense to know that they were Latin. The emblem was the same as her Master's gloves, and it looked like the tapestry outlines the use of the different runes decorating the circles around the edges.

Finally, she turned away from the fascinating work of art and located the three books Sir Integra had asked for. Putting the keys on top of them, she turned and began to peruse the shelves for something to read.

Surprisingly, most of the books were in English, if not a bit dated. There were books on medicine, ancient rites, history, geography, Europe, medieval times, the Black Death, and so much more. She took her time looking over the spines, occasionally grabbing one and flipping through the pages. She was about to take one on cultures of the Mediterranean when she spotted a section close to the ground that called to her. Putting the book back in a place that she'd remember it, she bent down and discovered that it was an entire bottom shelf on nothing but vampires.

She had wondered where the vampire books were. She knew that Hellsing had to have had them somewhere; this wasn't any silly Draculaor romanticized bullshit, this was the real deal. Pulling out a few books, she realized that van Helsing himself had written a good many of them. Some weren't even in print; the man's handwriting flowed across the pages. She found a book on the known powers of Nosferatu and stood up, ready to leave.

She lost her balance trying to stand and grabbed the bookshelf blindly for support. Luckily the thing didn't fall, but a single book toppled down. Apparently it had been sitting between the top of the shelf and the ceiling, far out of Seras' reach. She picked it up, frowning as she tried to figure out how to put it back where it came from. She dusted off the front cover with her shirt, looking at the image on the front. It was a woodblock from some ancient time, showing a man with a beard eating dinner and watching something.

Removing the dust entirely, Seras realized with a shock that the man was watching people die… on poles. Poles through their stomachs, poles through their bodies, poles coming from their mouths…. It was disgusting. "The Impaler," she said softly, reading the title. She didn't want to see any more gross pictures, but her morbid curiosity got the best of her and she flipped to the first chapter. She scanned the first page, realizing that it was a historical account of some man. She read out loud, trying to sound out the strange syllables on her tongue.

"Prince Vlad the third of the House of Drăcu- Drăculeşti, also known by his patronymic name, Vlad Dr—" She stopped, a cold shiver running down her spine. "Vlad Dracula." She slammed the book shut, her unbeating heart jumping into her throat. "Master." It was a book about Dracula. Her master. When he was a _human_. She looked down at the book, at the image on the front. She should put it back. She should pick up her vampire book and leave. She should, but she couldn't. Not when the information was there, in front of her.

She put the vampire book back, sticking The Impaler under Integra's stack of books before locking the door back and scurrying down the hall. She knew that if Alucard ever saw her reading the book about him, he'd be beyond livid. But it was a risk she was willing to take, if it would shed some light on the man behind the amber sunglasses.


	2. A Frightening Encounter!

To keep Alucard from seeing her, Seras decided to begin reading the book after the sun rose. Knowing that her master usually went to bed between 6 and 7 a.m., she felt that she would be safe once he was asleep. Besides, he didn't bother with her much; any secret reading on her part would most likely go under his radar, unless he suddenly decided that he wanted to spend all of his time with her. _That _was highly improbable, as Walter liked to say.

So after she mucked around some more and watched the rain end shortly before sunrise, she began to make her way slowly to the basement. She stopped to say hello to Walter as he came downstairs to begin his morning tasks. Asking him about his newest playtoy, she let him talk her ear off about weaponry and ballistics and other rather mundane things. After about fifteen minutes, he excused himself on the grounds of being late and she had to hide a smile. She knew that asking him about guns would allow her to waste some time, because that was the one hobby that Walter was truly passionate about.

She leisurely traipsed down the long flight of stairs to the basement, looking around at the drab scenery. Now that she was eating her dinners instead of throwing them across the room, she was able to see much better in the gloomy darkness that hung over all the basement hallways. For the first time, she really looked at the plethora of doors that went to places she hadn't explored yet. She had no idea what was hidden in the caverns of Hellsing manor, but from looking at the library's blueprints she knew that a dissection lab and torture chamber were just a few of the more macabre rooms.

"Looking for something?" A chill ran up her spine and she spun on her heel to see Alucard leaning against the wall behind her. For a moment, she gaped like a fish before she realized that she had no reason to look for an excuse. She had every right to be down there as anyone else; she lived there, for Pete's sake!

"Just wandering a bit. It was raining, so I couldn't go train and… I'm not tired just yet," she finished lamely, feeling a blush crawl up her cheeks as she stood before him. He grinned slightly, the dim light glinting off wet fangs while shadows danced across his face.

"What you call wandering others may view as snooping, Police Girl." So that was it. He thought she was meddling in things that she shouldn't. She felt her face become even warmer and barely kept her hands from balling into fists. She couldn't help but feel that he treated her like a child, instead of a young woman.

"Walking down the hallway isn't snooping; besides, my motto is "If you don't want anyone to see, lock the door". So if it's open, I have as much right as anyone else to go in," she argued lightly, looking him straight in the eyes—or rather, where she thought his eyes might be looking behind those seemingly-opaque frames.

"Is that so," he drawled, tilting his head slightly to the side as if he was looking at some unsolvable puzzle. She nodded once firmly and he let out a chuckle before vanishing into thin air. She looked all around her as the wispy tendrils of his laughter melted into the night before shivering again, this time more openly. He really creeped her out sometimes; he was just too inhuman to believe. Part of her couldn't wait until she let off the same vibes of sensual darkness. Part of her never wanted to end up like him.

* * *

Seras lay in the relative safety of her coffin-bed, listening to her own breathing. She was slowly branching out her psyche, trying to reach all the way to her master's mind down the hall without giving herself away. She could always pretend that she was "practicing", but she really didn't want to raise any more red flags then she had to.

She reached the lowest level of the basement in her mind's eye, but at the same time she felt strained. Her head began to throb and she reluctantly retreated, exasperated at her own weakness. She realized that she would have to begin rigorously practicing in order to further her mental ability; otherwise, Alucard could come up on her suddenly and she'd be dead meat. She frowned and turned over, reaching down underneath the mattress where she'd hidden the book.

For a moment, she couldn't find it and panicked. Then she felt the hard spine on her fingertips and breathed a soft sigh of relief. It was still there. She pulled it out and looked with wary disdain at the front cover. This was it; she still could not read the book and return it to the library, pretending that it didn't exist in her eyes. After this was the point of no return. She couldn't erase the knowledge that she'd gain.

Taking a deep breath, Seras closed her eyes and opened the book to the first page. The best thing about vampire sight was that you could read in bed without straining your eyes in the dark, she decided as she flipped past the table of contents. She didn't have to try and sneak a light into her coffin, which would have surely raised some questions had she been found out.

She reread the first page of chapter one, this time taking her time and really absorbing what the book was telling her. She turned the page and continued, her lips silently forming the words as her eyes moved across the pages.

"Vlad Dracula was born in the town of Sighisoara, in what was then the heart of Transylvania. He…."

* * *

Seras opened her eyes, sensing the changes in the air even before she was fully awake.

"Oh, damn. I must have fallen asleep reading," she muttered, picking the book up off of her face and running a hand through her hair. She had read until the late hours of the day, becoming more and more immersed in the strange life of her master. She must have finally dropped off from sheer exhaustion. She looked down at the page and carefully placed the attached ribbon that served as a marker on top of it. Scanning the page before she closed the book, she remembered that she had stopped where he'd been at the throne of Wallachia.

Closing the book, she suddenly realized three things. One: she wasn't in her coffin. Two: she was in the bright sunshine, but she wasn't burning alive. Three: She was most definitely not in her room, although that was the last place she remembered being. She jumped up, clutching the book to her chest and scrambling out of the patch of sunlight. It wasn't hurting her eyes, but it was a little brighter than she remembered. She looked around at the rough stone walls, covered in bright tapestries and then she moved cautiously back to the window, peering outside at the gorgeous plains spread out before her. Her eyes lit up and she couldn't help but gasp at the bright splendor of it all.

"I'd forgotten how lovely the grass looked in the daytime," she sighed happily, a smile creeping onto her face. "Well, I must be dreaming, so I might as well look around." She turned and began to walk down the hall. She didn't meet a single person, so when she turned a corner and ran into a guard's chest she was rather surprised. "Oh, I'm sorry," she sputtered, rushing to straighten out his rumpled shirt. The man glared down at her, clutching his spear tightly.

"Cine esti tu? Ce afaceri ai?" the guard said roughly. She blinked at him for a moment, unsure of what to do.

"I-I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" she stammered with a small smile. The man bristled at her words and began to inch forward, his spear held out threating.

"Faci tu ameninta regele!? Din ce sat barbat, grindina?" he spat, pushing her backwards with his weapon. Raising the book up as a shield, Seras felt the blood rush from her face as her heart jumped in her chest.

"W-wait! I'm not a thief or anything! I don't suppose you have an English translator, do you?" she joked half-heartedly, her eyes flitting every which way in her new quest for an escape route. _Even in my dreams, I can't help but get into trouble! _

"Sasii te-a trimis! Eu te va trage in teapa pe sulita mea!" the guard shouted, raising his weapon high over her head. She screamed and ducked; she was ready to roll out of the way when she spotted a gleaming, spotless pair of metal boots. She paused despite herself, transfixed by her own blurry reflection in their surface.

"Ce se intampla?! De ce zgomotul?" she slowly looked up, her eyes travelling the continued layers of armor up, up, up to the top. The armor belonged to a man with a _very _familiar face.

"Master," she breathed, too mesmerized to move. Her master—Dracula, looked at her for a moment as if he didn't know what to make of her. He snapped his head up to glare at the guard, who had all but fallen on the floor in a bow.

"Aceasta fata vorbeste o limba ciudata. Am crezut ca-I trimis de boieri sasi." The guard refused to look up as he spoke. The armored prince regarded him for a terse moment before his eyes moved back to Seras, who had already clambered to her feet and stared back at him openly. After a moment she thought twice and realized that staring down a king might not be the best way to put herself in good graces and threw in a curtsey for good measure.

"Master—I mean, your Highness. I'm Seras, and I know you from the future," she rattled off, knowing now full well that no one in her dream seemed to speak English. That only made it more realistic, she decided. In the 1400s, most likely no one in Transylvania would even know about England. That would take much, much longer. "Sorry for dropping in, but since I'm dreaming it wouldn't do any good to have me killed, would it?"

"Sie verstehen?" he growled in reply. She stared vacantly at him and he laughed darkly before raising his arm into the air. She winced, but instead of a slap or a punch a hand settled in her hair and ran through the locks, tendrils catching slightly in the metal. "Ea este inofensiv. Parul ei straluceste in soare, nu-i asa?"

"Da," the guard replied, sounding a bit uncertain. The king turned to leave without another word, only looking back when it became clear that Seras was following him. He watched her for a moment before turning again, and walked three hall lengths before looking over his shoulder at her. She was trying to keep up with his long strides, wondering where he was going while still holding the heavy book in her arms.

"Vin de-a lungul atunci, mic pui. Daca intentia ta este sa urmeze," he grumbled, waving her along in front of him and pushing her ahead into a darkened room. He sat at a wooden desk and pulled a quill and some parchment to him, writing out something quietly. Seras looked around the room before taking a seat on the floor by the door and closing her eyes. It was warm in the room, with a fire blazing and candles everywhere. It felt nice.

* * *

**Afterword:**Google Translate is your friend. Well, my friend anyway. I don't speak Romanian.

She's dreaming, of course. It's up to the reader to figure out if something else is going on, too. (laughs evilly) I can't spoon feed you guys everything, after all.

I'm too lazy to add pronunciation marks to this story. Be happy I added translations below. I'm super lazy!

**Translation:**

Guard: Who are you? What business do you have here?  
Do you threaten the King? What village art thou from?  
The Saxons sent you! I'll impale thee on my spear!

King: What's happening?! Why all the noise?!

Guard: This maiden speaks a strange tongue. I thought she was sent by Saxon boyars.

King: (In German) do you understand?  
She's harmless. Her hair sparkles in the sun, does it not?

Guard: Yes.

King: Come along then, little chick. If it is indeed your intention to follow me.


End file.
